Foldable tie rack



March 24, 1953 B; K s 2,632,571

F OLDABLE TIE RACK Fild NOV. 22, 1948 INVENTOR. M/c/rae/ 5. r7425 Patented Mar. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE v FOLDABLE TIE RACK Michael B. Kendis, Kansas City, Mo. I Application November 22, 1948, Serial No. 61,358

1 This invention relates to supporting means for wearing apparelin the nature of a rack particularly adapted to receive a plurality of neckties in side-by-side relationship and looped over the rack, said rack having means as a part thereof for preventing accidental sliding displacement of the ties therefrom.

1 Claim. (Cl. 211-100) There have heretofore been developed many and various types of tie racks having as a part 7 thereof means for receiving the ties in looped relationship thereto. In virtually all cases, the ties can be easily displaced from the rack by sliding movement therefrom except only in cases where'such tie racks are provided with complicated, expensive and aggravating clips or other securing means for the ties.

' It is the most important object of the present'invention, therefore, to provide a tie rack having an elongated rod for receiving a plurality of ties in looped relationship thereto, the rod being mounted for free rotation about the longi tudinal axis of a second rod, whereby, upon one revolution of the first rod andthe ties thereon, said ties will be looped over the second rod and held against displacement of any nature whatsoever.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a tie rack having a horizontal rod that is, in turn, provided with a U-shaped member pivotallysecured thereto for receiving the ties along its bight, whereby, as the U-shaped member is rotated, the ties are looped about both of the members yvhen in the operative position and thereby held in place.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide means for swingably mounting the entire structure above set forth on a substantial- 1y vertical axis to and from a position permitting such double folding of the ties.

More minor objects will be made clear or become apparent as the following specification progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a foldable tie rack made in accordance with my present invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse, cross sectional view taken on line IIII of Fig. 1, looking in the directio of the arrows.

. Fig. 3 is a transverse, cross sectional view taken on line IIIIII of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and,

Fig. 4 is a detailed, fragmentary, cross sectional View taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 3.

A pair of brackets l and I2 are both shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing and are adapted for of screws I8 or like fastening elements.

mounting upon one surface of a vertical wall, door or the like M. The bracket I0 is substantially Lv-shaped, the shorter leg [6 thereof having openings formed therein for receiving a pair The longer leg 28 of the bracket H1 is provided with a pair of spaced-apart slots 22 and 24 extending inwardly from the normally uppermost edge thereof.

Bracket I2 is U-shaped, the free ends of the legs thereof being laterally and outwardly turned as at 26 for receiving fastening elements 28 serving to secure the same to the wall l4. The two brackets Ill and I2 are mounted in spaced-apart relationship with their legs substantially horizontal.

The legs of the bracket l2 are provided with a pair of aligned openings 30 corresponding in distance from wall I4 with the slot 22 of bracket l0 and a pair of openings 32 in vertical alignment' within the two legs of bracket I2 that are spaced from the openings 30 substantially the same distance as the spacing between slots 22 and 24. A pair of L-shaped rods Hand 36 span the distance between the brackets l0 and I2, one end of the rods being provided with a laterallyextending leg 33 and 40, respectively.

Thus, rods 34 and 36 are each L-shaped, one end thereof opposite to the legs 38 and 40 being disposed within slots 24 and 22, respectively, for support by the bracket Ill. The legs 38 of the rod 34 passes through the aligned openings 30 of bracket [2 for free, rotative movement therein,

while the leg 4! is similarly mounted within the openings 32 of bracket I2. 1

Thus, both rods 34 and 36 and parts about to be described that are connected therewith are entirely supported by the brackets l3 and 12, since the same span the distance between such brackets. Rods 34 and 36 have a pair of U- shaped members 42 and 44, respectively, disposed in a normal depending relationship thereto.

The free ends of the legs 43 of the U-shaped member 42 are provided with eyes 43 and 48, respectively, that are looped about the rod 34for free, rotative movement thereon. The length of the bight of member 42 is less than theover-all length of the rod 34 and is disposed in its entirety between the brackets l0 and I2. The bracket 46 is similarly formed with eyes 50 and 52 on the free ends of its legs 45 for pivotal connection with the rod 36.

As illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing, both of the rods 34 and 36 have at least one annular groove 54 formed therein for receiving the proximal eye of the corresponding member 42 or 44 to V 3 prevent reciprocable movement of members 42 and 44 to the rods 34 and 38, respectively.

To illustrate the operation of the rack, a tie 55 is shown operably mounted upon the rod 38 and its accompanying member 44. Tie 55 is initially looped about the bight of member 44 through a line of fold 58 midway between the ends of tie 56. After tie 56 has so been suspended from the member 44, the latter is caused to be rotated, together with tie 55, about the longitudinal axis of rod 35.

As shown in Fig. 1, the member 44 has been rotated toward the member 42 and thence back to its original depending relationship with respect to rod 36. When such single revolution of member 44 takes place, tie 58 will, in turn, be looped over the rod 35 midway between the line of fold 58 and the two free ends of tie 56. A line of fold 60 of double thickness is thereby formed in the tie 56.

When tie 56 is in the position illustrated in Fig. 1, it is apparent that the same cannot be removed from the rack by a simple downward pull upon the free ends thereof. Accidental displacement of the tie 56 cannot take place, irrespective of the number of ties that are initially mounted upon the member 44, to the end that the entire tie-supporting structure can be mounted relatively close to wall I 4; and swinging movement of the rods 34 and 35, together with their depending members 42 and 44, respectively, on vertical axes 38 and 40 is provided.

By lifting the rod 36 from its slot 22, outward, swinging movement thereof is accomplished, permitting its rotative movement of member 44 in the manner aforesaid.

The operation of the rod 34 and its depending member 42 is identical with that just described, and the same may be swung outwardly with respect to wall 14 upon the bracket I2 to permit the rotative movement of member 42 about the longitudinal, substantially horizontal axis of rod 34.

It is to be noted that the legs 43 of the member 42 are somewhat shorter than the corresponding legs 45 of member 44, to the end that the double row of ties carried by the rack are relatively offset, eliminating an extremely bulky condition at one point on wall 14.

Obviously, any number of tie-supporting assemblies may be provided on the brackets l and [2 by merely increasing the lengths of the legs thereof; and, in each case, the lengths of the legs 43 and 45 of the members 42 and 44 respectively should vary for the above-mentioned reasons.

It is obvious, also, that a relatively small space is utilized with respect to the vertical height of wall l4, because of the double folding of the ties 58. This is particularly important when a small door, such as a closet door, is used for supporting the tie rack.

A large number of ties may be hung upon a rack of this character in a neat condition andin a position where the same are exposed and can be easily viewed by the users thereof in making a choice. It is a simple matter to merely swing either or both of the rods 34 and .36 outwardly with respect to the wall 14 in order to reverse the rotation of the members 42 and 44 in removing a tie ready for wear.

Another advantage of the present tie rack lies in the way in which the ties are stretched slightly when the folding action is imparted thereto, thus serving to straighten the same between uses. The entire assembly includes but a few number of parts, all of which can be easily and inexpensively manufactured.

Manifestly, the foldable tie rack hereof is capable of many changes and modifications and, therefore, though one embodiment only has been illustrated and described, such changes as fairly come within the scope of the appended claim are contemplated hereby.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A tie rack comprising a pair of brackets adapted for mounting in spaced relationship upon a vertical surface and extending horizontally therefrom, one of the brackets being U-shaped and having a pair of spaced, horizontal legs; a. pair of L-shaped rods, each having a vertical leg carried by the legs of said one bracket for rotation on a vertical axis, and a horizontal leg spanning the distance between the brackets and normally supported thereby; and a Ueshaped rod depending from each horizontal leg of the L.-shaped rods between the brackets, said U-shaped rods each having a horizontal bight connected to a pair of vertical legs having eyes at the free ends thereof coiled about the corresponding horizontal leg, the legs of one U-shaped rod being shorter than the legs of the other U-shaped rod, the distance between said surface and said one U -shaped rod, and the distance between the U-shaped rods being less than the length of the legs of said one U-shaped rod, whereby the U-shaped rods are rendered freely rotatable on the horizontal legs only when the L-shaped rods are swung n the one bracket away from said surface, said horizontal legs and the corresponding bights being held spaced-apart by the legs of the U-shaped rods a distance less than one-half the length of a tie, whereby a single revolution of the U-shaped rods and ties looped on said bights moves ties on the bights in looped relationship .to the horizontal legs, there being notches formed in the other of said brackets for receiving the proximal end of the horizontal legs, said horizontal legs each having a groove for receiving one of said free ends to hold the U-shaped rods against movement toward and away from the brackets.

MICHAEL B. KENDIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 862,706 Brenizer Aug. 6, 1907 872,488 Wheary Dec. 3, 1907 1,240,611 Smith Sept, 18, 1917 1,312,271 Sallust Aug. 5, 1919 2,133,925 Randall Oct. 18, 1938 2,409,570 Kramer Oct. 1-5, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 236,307 Great Britain July9, 1925 

